Written Report by the Chair of the Board of Directors Annual General meeting of CIMS, March 11 th 2017 This report will be in two parts and will cover the period of activities of the Institute since the last Annual Meeting which took place in Toronto on November 15 th, 2014. It will consist of a report on the activities of each of the Chapters: Ottawa and Toronto. Some of these events were national in character. Ottawa Chapter report Two important events took place during 2015: the Round table on the Mediterranean Diet, in partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and several Embassies; and the lecture by Dr. Zafeiropoulou, Cultural Advisor to the Greek Prime Minister, linked to the major exhibition which was presented at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa on Alexander the Great, which was also presented in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum. The major event on the Mediterranean Diet took place in Ottawa in May 2015. The Ottawa Chapter partnered with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Embassies of Croatia, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal and Spain as well as the Dante Alighieri Society of Ottawa and the Canadian Institute in Greece and was part of the 70 th anniversary of the founding of UNESCO. It included a Round table discussion entitled: Recipe for the Good life: Food, Community and the Mediterranean Diet. Speakers included: Dr. Kenneth Bartlett, Professor of History and Renaissance Studies (Victoria University at the University of Toronto), who spoke on the Role of Olive Oil and the Olive tree in the Mediterranean throughout the centuries; Dr. Dennis Forcese, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, who spoke on the wines and food which formed the staple diet of the Mediterranean peoples since Roman times; and Dale Jarvis, Director of the Foundation for Intangible Heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador who explained the concept of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Round table was followed by tastings of wine and olive oil as well as other regional products which were offered courtesy of the participating embassies.
The other major event in partnership with the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa was the lecture by Dr. Simoni Zafeiropoulou, Cultural advisor to the Greek Prime Minister, on the theme In Quest of Alexander the Great, 2300 years later. Other partners included the Archaeological Institute of America (Ottawa), the Canadian Embassy in Greece, the Canadian Institute in Greece, the Embassy of the Hellenic Republic of Greece, and the Parnassos Hellenic Cultural Society.In her lecture, Dr. Zafeiropolou traced Alexander of Macedon s journeys through the vast Persian Empire he mastered, which she travelled personally for UNESCO, and the impact of his military genius and determination to conquer the world. The event included a guided private visit of the exhibit, the presentation in the Theater and was followed by a reception in the foyer of the Museum. The project became a joint project with the Toronto Chapter as Dr. Zafeiropoulou travelled to Toronto to present her lecture in the Royal Ontario Museum. This is a good example of cooperation at the national level between the two chapters. Other lectures included one by Professor Theodore W. Burgh, Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington entitled, Do You Hear What I Hear? Music Culture in Ancient Israel, which explored music culture in ancient Israel with emphasis on Iron Age in Israel (1200-586 BCE); the presentation of a documentary film: Göbekli Tepe: The World s First Temple? About a site in south-eastern Turkey made up of massive carved stones dating back to the 12 th Century BC, which was screened at the residence of the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey; a lecture by Prof. Laura Banducci, Associate professor in Greco-roman studies at Carleton University, on the theme of Cooking in Ancient Italy; as well as the lecture by Prof. Jean MacIntosh Turfa from the University of Pennsylvania on the Pirates of Populonia? The myth of Etruscan piracy in the Mediterranean; and finally Hassan Eltaher spoke on Cruising the Suez Canal: Sailing through World History, about the history of the Canal, the international impact of its construction and to celebrate the expansion leading to a doubling of the waterway. The Egyptian Embassy partnered with CIMS and hosted a reception The Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Chapter took place in October and was followed by the projection of a film on AYASOFIA: The Temple of Humanity. In 2016 the Ottawa Chapter partnered with the Archaeological Institute of America and the Canadian Institute in Greece for several events. The first lecture of the season was by Dr. John Osborne, Professor of Medieval Studies, School for Studies in Art and Culture, Carleton University. on San Marco, Venice and the Fourth Crusade which studied the changes made to the structure of the church of San Marco in the aftermath of the Crusade in 1204. This was followed by a lecture by Prof. Elizabeth S. Greene of the Department of Classics at Brock University who spoke on: Law, Ethics, and Underwater Archaeology: The Wreck of Cesnola s Napried. The third lecture was by Dr. Marian H. Feldman of John Hopkins University, Baltimore, on the Mobility of Levantine Luxury arts in the Near East and the Mediterranean during the early First Millenium BCE.
In the fall, the Egyptian Embassy sponsored a lecture presented jointly with the AIA of Dr. Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner from the University of Toronto on her research and finds in the Abydos Votive Zone Projects in Abydos, Egypt, which addressed the discovery of a royal statue made of wood which proved to depict Hatshepsut, a woman who ruled as king during the late Bronze age. This was followed by a lecture by Dr. Stephen Batiuk of the University of Toronto on the continuing work which the University has been doing in the region of the ancient city of Antioch, now modern Antakia, in Turkey, and the Tell Tayinat site, where he has been director of excavations for the past 12 years, working with Prof.Timothy Harrison a former long-time member of the National Board. This lecture was also presented in Toronto. The Ottawa chapter partnered with the Ottawa Muslim Women s organization (OMWO) for the last event of the season in screening a BBC documentary narrated by British historian Bettany Hughes entitled When the Moors Ruled in Europe, an introduction to the main event which is planned for 2017 on Al Andalous. This event will be taking place at the Centrepointe Theater on April 7 th, 2017. Toronto Chapter Report CIMS Toronto Chapter put on a broad program in 2015. Our 1 st lecture was held at the ROM with their co-operation and that of the Greek Consulate. It was made possible by the Ottawa Chapter on whose initiative the speaker was brought over and illustrated the joint chapter initiatives we are striving to put forward. It was a year that saw the initial contact with the Aga Khan Museum broaden out. We have moved to broaden our connection to Brock University in St. Catherine s by inviting Prof. Andrew McDonald, Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Studies to join our board. The Dean of Humanities at Brock, Dr. Carol Merriam, and Dr. Anton Jansen of the Classics Dept. initiated our lecture series this year by talking about the Eingensin Itinerary, a medieval pilgrimage to Rome. We were in touch with the Italian Cultural Institute with which we have established closer contact this past year. Our initial collaboration was on a program dealing with the Mediterranean in the Cinema. We also established initial contact with the University of Calabria in southern Italy with whom we explored the possibility of participating in a conference on Migration in the Mediterranean through the office of the Principal and the Dept. of Italian Studies at the University of St. Michael s College, our home base. In 2016 Toronto has been involved in a number of projects. We have been meeting with the ROM, the Aga Khan Museum, and various consulates to attempt to get a number of exhibits into Toronto. We are now in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute on lectures concerning Italy. We have continued our involvement with the Huqoq excavations through U of T s Archaeology Centre. We are also looking to get involved with the excavations of the palaces of David and Solomon in the City of David
in Jerusalem. We have put on 6 lectures over the past year on topics such as Esther in the movies and Roman tomb inscriptions. Our lectures so far have ranged from the application of the latest computer virtual reality technology in the restoration of a Romanesque Basilica with roots in the late Roman republic to the examination of an 8 th century itinerary of a pilgrimage to Rome and the impact of Thomas Aquinas in medieval southern Italy. Our ties to the University of St. Michael s College were strengthened when we met with the new Principal, Prof. Randy Boyagoda, to discuss ways of integrating CIMS events into St. Mike s programs such as having our lecture series be part of the Continuing Studies program at St. Mike s. We are also planning a Fellini night at St. Mike s as part of that initiative. In closing, my thanks go to members of the Board, who have contributed so much to making our programs in both Toronto and Ottawa a success and to our webmaster Giorgio Zanetti who has always been there to keep our website accessible and up to date. I would also like to underline the important work and efforts on the part of those members of the Board who have decided to step down. These include: Professors Timothy Harrison of Toronto University, Shane Hawkins of Carleton University, Karin Shlapbach of Ottawa University, as well as long-time member Robert E. Jarvis of Toronto, Sherif Barakat and Füsun Oren of Ottawa. I am particularly grateful to them for having given their time and expertise as volunteers to CIMS and my thanks go to all of them Louise Terrillon-Mackay, Chair of the Board of Directors Saturday, March 11 th, 2017
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